One Month

It’s July 31st, and tomorrow will be the official 1 month mark of this crazy….whatever it is.  Maybe that’s a good place to start: what exactly is this?  Through talking to people as I pass by, I’ve been called various things, as well as what I’m doing.
Names for myself include: hippie, bum, crazy, adventurer, friend, and random guy.
Names for this include: sabbatical, post college trip, walk about, once-in-a-lifetime-trip, and cool adventure.
But as of now, I think I can offer a better name for both.

North Dakota - What to Do?

Saying hello is awkward.  Saying goodbye is hard.  Waking up to my final morning in Montana was hard, but a quick pack, and multiple goodbye’s later, and I was on my 9 hour speed run for the border: North Dakota.  Sleeping in a rest stop, and watching the sun set one last time in Montana, the colors again dazzled me.

Montana - Departing Thoughts

Montana, what an amazing state.  Though I again only saw a small sliver of it as I zoomed through on my way to meet with friends, I was struck with how empty the Eastern half of the state was.  All the beauty and amazing-ness of the state seemed to be confined to the Western half.  Greeted with a beautiful sunset and rain storm was a beautiful way to do so.  I also slowed down a lot from my previous pace the past two weeks.  It reminded me that I am human, and not out just to cram as much as I can into a week, but to also smell the proverbial roses and enjoy this amazing journey I’m on.  ]

Montana - Rockin and Relaxin

Thoroughly exhausted from the backpacking trip and getting home extremely late, we decided to get up early. Kidding. We slept in, and it was glorious.  A relaxing morning playing with Samuel (Max’s 2 year old nephew) and we went off to run some errands.  First stop was the local REI to snag a climbing harness for Kristin, and pick up a guide book on the area.  Mountain Project wasn’t exactly helpful.  With a harness in tow, but no book, we got the low down from an employee who pointed us to two book stores that might have it.  One of them was next to a pancake parlor.

Montana - Glacier day 3 and 4

Because the night was beautiful and clear, I only had the rain fly on my tent half way to allow for more air, and if I should wake up more, star viewing.  The morning light and a gentile alarm woke me up, and I laid in my warm, cozy sleeping bag, gazing at the beautiful mess of trees and clouds around me.  Slowly coming to, I felt a small drop on my face.  Followed quickly by another, and almost immediately after, the tell tail sound.

Rain!

Montana - Glaier day 1 and 2

A few alternate titles for this post include: 1) The Misadventures of Blind Smoke, 2) Frantic Planning and Majority Execution, or 3) Ow, My Feet.

We awake Monday to more packing; a single truck load comprised of all of Max’s possessions (I’m not the only one!) to send to the new house before our trip.  All moved in, we packed up the trunk with all the gear for the trip, and set off on the 3 hour drive to Glacier National Park.

Montana - Sigthts and Moving On

Saturday morning we slept in, late.  Waking up at 8:30, I felt still tired, but refreshed enough for a fun and work filled day.  A quick breakfast and some house chores, we piled into the car and went downtown to check out the local Missoula Farmers Market.  It was schanzzy.

Montana - Missoula and Not Dying

Spending the night in Custer National Forrest was my goodbye to South Dakota (even though it’s in Montana).  A legit camping site, not just a pull off, helped to make the night quiet and safe.  With a bit of reading to wind down from the day, and excitement for the week ahead to be filled with lots of adventure, a real bed, and an adventure buddy.

South Dakota - Departing Thoughts

South Dakota.  I still grapple with the thought that I didn’t actually see the whole state as I had the previous week in Wyoming.  But instead, I immersed myself into one of its national forests, the Black hills, and two of its towns, Custer and Rapid City.  My whole week only spent in the south west corner, I still enjoyed it, the many new people I met, and the great places I got to see.  The pace of the week felt much more relaxed, though I did front load the first few days with jam packed schedules, the latter half was a much slower pace.

South Dakota - stopping, driving, walking

Waking up in the Black Hills National Forest for the last day was bitter sweet.  My last day planned to be mostly driving, I wasn’t excited, but ready to take it slow and meander about.  The first stop was Deadwood, a town that turned out to be 90% casinos.  With a visitor center that was neither open nor closed, a bit of loitering got me by till they were officially open.  The lady at the desk was the least enthusiastic visitor center attendee I’d yet to meet, and the info she gave me was lackluster at best.

South Dakota - More Black Hills

One thing I really wanted to do on this trip was minimize back tracking or driving the same road multiple times.  It seems like that has sufficiently failed during my time in South Dakota, but I can’t say I’m terribly mad.  Also, given that I’ve stayed in the southwest corner of the state for the whole week, it was pretty much inevitable.

Cascade Falls was a nice place to sit and eat breakfast, though nothing insanely beautiful to call home about.  I wandered north to Wind Cave National Park for another cave tour, embracing natures air-conditioning.  The ranger selling me the ticket warning that its 53 degrees down there, my t-shirt and shorts probably not sufficient.  I smiled and thanked her for the advice.

South Dakota - Bad Lands

Wrapping up from my day of work in Rapid City, I wandered down the main route, highway 90, for the hour drive to the Badlands.  As all highways, there were advertisements along the side for upcoming attractions which I just kind of ignored, until I noticed a pattern.  Nearly every single mile, a small sign was placed calling my attention to “Wall Drug” because that didn’t sound conspicuous at all.  Interest piqued, it was also the same exit as for the Badlands, and I had time to kill.

The town itself is called Wall, South Dakota.  In Wall, there’s essentially a miniature theme park / visitor center / convenience store / buffet / every South Dakota and Badlands themed trinket you could think of, and some you couldn’t.  A massive store, akin to almost a local Walmart, and equal in size, it began to give me small panic attacks akin to grocery shopping when I returned from my trip to Europe.  I quickly escaped, glad to be out and on my way to the Badlands.

South Dakota - Rapid City

Arriving just in time for the Thursday evening music festival was a stellar introduction to Rapid City.  The sound booming through the streets, the dance infection slowly spreading and receding in waves.  A setting sun cast orange, blue and red glows on the already vibrant city as musicians closed their sets with classics anyone could jam to.

As I found my home for the night in the back of a Walmart parking lot, I blended into the RV's and trailers of various sizes.  All arranged neatly like a game of battle ships on the asphalt prairie, the painted lines merely suggestions for spacing between ships.  I made the trek to the store bathrooms to clean up, the cold running water feeling like a splash of heaven.  Again, my mom's words rang in my ear, probably a recurring theme for this trip, "we are defined by our choices."  What kind of life choices am I making that I find it acceptable, normal even, to brush my teeth and wash my face and hair in a Walmart bathroom in a strange town?  I'll leave that up to personal interpretation.

South Dakota - Black Hills day 2

Finding "home" in darkness will never be easy.  Obvious signs shrouded by oncoming head lights, sketchy dirt roads being private, and horrible maps with no scale or markers all make the task its own dilemma.  Thankfully I did slightly plan ahead by download a map of America to my phone before the trip, knowing that GPS will work even cell signal won't.

After a few questionable turns and slow driving, the trail head turn off presented it self.  The parking area adorned with signs of the infamous (or famous?) no camping sign.  I was exhausted and planning for an early wake up tomorrow, I knew I only had to be awake 30 seconds before a ranger showing up to be in the clear, a gamble that was well worth not having to keep hunting.

South Dakota - Black Hills day 1

Waking up next to the highway again.  One week/state down.  The semi-trucks racing by don't seem to bother me any more.  Though I spent every night "illegally" camped, thanks to LNT and common sense, I survived this time.  Then, I hit the next hurdle.

My glorious plan of flying by the seat of my pants, guided only by visitor centers and weather quickly came to a halt thanks to the lack visitor center.  Even though I had arrived along a well traveled route, it wasn't the main highway, 90.  So, with a lack of official visitor center, I wandered to the first stop on my list, Jewel Cave, and hoped for the best.

Wyoming - Departing Thoughts

So far, I've mostly talked about what I've been doing, but not necessarily my thoughts along the way.  Here's my attempt to remedy that by talking about the week in review and thought's about the places I visited, didn't visit, and people I met.

Wyoming - Devils Tower

The great thing about living in your car is waking up in new and beautiful places almost every day.  The not so great thing is having to find those places, usually in the dark, and hoping you don't get in trouble for just trying to get some shuteye.  This day, I awoke in a pull off and a stunning view of the Devils Tower looming in the distance.  Only a few miles away, I wandered into the park, officially breaking even on my National Parks Pass!  Being so early, even the visitor center wasn't open.

Devils Tower is known as not only a great family tourist desination, but also an amazing climbing destination with only some of the hardest routes making it to the summit.  I cleaned up in the washroom, made my sign, and sat at the entrance with a book in hopes of finding a climbing partner for the day.

3 hours later. Nothing.

Wyoming - Wild Iris / Lander

Departing Yellowstone and the Tetons was hard, I could spend months just there hiking and exploring around, but my crazy time table said it was time to say good bye. The next leg wouldn't be solo, and human interaction sounded nice. A person to discuss how crazy this week had been, being only 4 days into the trip. I was set to meet with Kari and her father to climb in Sinks Canyon for a few days, as well as slow down and collect my thoughts. (Not to mention maybe bribe Kari's dad to show me how to fix my stoll broken window).

The drive uneventful with beauty scenery, meaning a few stops for photo opts. As well as spotty cell signal to let my parents know I'm alive so far, which was actually saying something.

As I coasted into Lander, I was reminded of a few things.

Wyoming - Yellowstone NP

It's not an adventure unless something goes wrong. Isn't that the saying? Well, it didn't take long. I stopped at the Yellowstone sign to get some pictures and enjoy the sunset. I still had plenty of time to get into the park, find a place to sleep, and maybe make a decent dinner.

Then, my driver window wouldn't roll up, again. I've been having issues with it the past few months and after two services, thought the problem was solved. I guess I thought wrong.

Wyoming - Grand Teton National Park

It's 430 pm, day 2, and I'm currently sitting in my camp at Delta Lake in Grand Teton National Park. The road just to get here was more mentally exhausting than anything.  But I've had my nutritious and delicious dinner of ramen noodles, so now seems like a good time to recap.

Yesterday, July 1st, I left Denver for hopefully another year but this time with more freedom than I could fathom.  The final items were packed into my car, I hugged and kissed my mom's goodbye, then made one last stop at REI. Being the first of the month, now was the best time to get a National Parks Pass and use it to its full potential. Then, I traveled north...my first destination the Tetons by the end of the day.